The Thing about Torchwood Four
by TheGirlWhoImagined
Summary: ON HIATUS: What ever happened to Torchwood four? The one Jack told Gwen was lost. Where did it go? Why hasn't it come back? Maybe Arty can help with your questions. That is if she isn't to busy watching her soaps or saving the universe. Doctor/OC Bad summary sorry
1. Epilogue

Hi hello this is just a fun little prolouge. Now the doctor will end up showing up in two or three Chapters as I try and get a little back story on the main character who will be the female timelord. And yes Jack will be making some appearances ^_^ I hope I can write this as entertaining as possible while keeping characters in well character ^_^ I also have another fic as well if you're interested. Well Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I own My Oc characters only Doctor who is the intellectual property of BBC because if I owned it you wouldn't be reading this you'd be watchin' it...and I'd live in britain...and I'd be rich...and I'd play on the tardis set when now one was looking. But i don't so T_T

* * *

_An overdue impromptu mission statement:_

_ Torchwood. One of the many organizations that protects the earth from the ever growing alien threat. They operate outside the government and above the police. There were four in total but One and two were destroyed in the battle of canary wharf and four is classified as missing._

_ Torchwood four's last two known transmissions were in 1992 when a distress call was sent out. The transmission followed as such: _

_**Transmission one 12:42 am Dec. 31:**_

_** [Team leader] **"Hey, this is Alicia Bouvuare of Torchwood four, at 5am this morning our quarantine protocols went off putting us in lockdown. There must be something wrong with our system. I had a full work up of all life forms within the facility, including employees, and had our tech do an extensive scan of the entire bloody building three times and nothing abnormal came up. I even had our archiver check a piece of alien tech we retrieved from a raid on a black markets deal last night and still nothing. So could one of your techie's come down and check out our systems to let us out?"_

_ **[Team medic] **"Yah! How about before we die of old age! Some of us have plans you know!"_

_ **[Team leader] **"Dammit Goode stop complaining and get back to work!"_

_ **[Tower technician 15382] **"This is Torchwood two. We can't lift the quarantine till we've done scans and run through all the protocols on our end. So it might be a while. I suggest you make yourselves comfortable and just sit tight for now."_

_ **[Team leader] **"Nothing else we can do I suppose."_

_**Transmission two 3:43 am Jan. 01:**_

_** [Team leader] **" 999, mayday, S.O.S., emergency, is anyone receiving this? We need immediate evac. The facilities been *inaudible voice of another person* What! *inaudible male voice* Oh god. No, no please isn't there something you can do! *Inaudible female voice* WELL TRY HARDER! I don't want to end up like Kathy. Plea- *transmission cuts out due to screaming*._

_ **[Tower technician 07863] **"Hello? Torchwood four? Is everything ok! Is anyone there. Please report! This is torchwood two, what is your situation? Hello? Hey, Reginald somethings going on with Torchwood four, their transmission just cut off. I think I heard screaming. I need you to send a tactical team down there asap. *pause in speech* Crap. Fine call Torchwood three have them check it out. *inaudible male laughter* Yeah, lets just hope it's another repeat of there infamous 1990 New years blowout." _

_Those MIA from Torchwood four are as follows:_

_ Alicia Bouvuare; age 34, Team Leader_

_ Kathy Temple; age 28, Second in Command_

_ Tom Goode; age 24, Medical Expert_

_ Bo Desmond; age 22, Archivist_

_ Lizbin Franco; age 24, Tech Expert_

_ Brue Smith; age 29, Inter-Agency and Public Liaison_

_ Quinn Desmond; age 18, Caretaker_

_ Torchwood Three arrived on scene at 5:59 am after the last transmission. Upon arrival they noticed the facility had vanished. All that remained was the starter foundation in the ground. There were no signs of an explosion or visible conflict. After extensive searching and testing it was concluded that Torchwood Four had jumped through time due to residual quantum particulates in the soil at the foundation. _

_ It was rumored at the time that Torchwood Four was working on some highly sensitive equipment including, but not limited to, time travel. It was also a known fact that there lead Tech Expert Lizbin had published many theoretical theorems on the subject which lead to her eventual hiring to Torchwood. So the theory of Torchwood Four having time travelled wasn't deemed impossible. However the case still remains open._

* * *

Locke paused in his typing to let out an exasperated sigh. He looked up from his work station, "Can I help you ma'am?"

"What? No. Of course not, you can't help me. But I can help you. This is an awful story, it's way too boring. It needs more piazza. Where's the action, the drama, the suspense! People are gonna fall asleep when they read this."

He gave his blonde haired commander a droll stare. "It's a mission statement. There supposed to be like this. Besides I wouldn't have to be writing them if you had done them properly in the first place. You've written them all up like their some mystery novel. And look at this," he holds up a manuscript labeled 'The shadow with a million mouths', "You even gave them cheesy titles."

Locke dropped the papers onto the desk. His commander looked on blankly at the stack before breaking out into a wide grin. "Oh! I remember that day like it was yesterday. Which it could very well be since I haven't check the dates today. But I write like that because it's fun. Come on you can't tell me you weren't hanging on every word when you read them. Besides I had a more practical reason when I wrote them that way."

"Really what would that be?"

"If these documents were to ever, god forbid, get into the hands of the public it could easily be covered up as a novel someone wrote in their spare time."

Locke looked surprised. He knew two things to be true about his Team Leader. One she was incredibly intelligent and two she's an eternal slacker when it came to protocols. Yet here she did something with the intentional foresight to solve a possible problem. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

And as if sensing the nice thoughts he had swirling around in his mind she added one more part to shatter his new found respect, "Plus I don't much care for mission statements. Who wants to write up all that structured blah blah."

Or maybe not. He groaned in frustration and turned back to his screen. "Wait! What are you doing. You're really serious when you said you were going to re-write them! You know you'll never get them done. There's sixty years worth of this stuff. Plus, we'll keep getting into trouble and then I'll have to write up even more. So there's no point. Quit while you're ahead kid. Besides there's an Anniversary Party going on in the old hub area right now, you should come and get drunk like the rest of us," she smacked him playfully on the back.

He gave a tentative smile but shook his head. "No thanks. I'll celebrate in my own way by giving the original team a proper report I think. That, and someone needs to stay sober incase an emergency arises while all you idiots are intoxicated."

She shrugged, "All right to each there own I suppose," she looked at the screen for a second then continued, "you haven't even gotten to the best part yet. You know, when I save the day."

Locke snorted, "You mean when you and your brother crash landed your run down TARDIS into the labs stumbling into the problem."

She looked appalled, "I'll have you know she was not rundown she was just having slight malfunctions due to a ripple in the time vortex pushing loose some old parts that had still retained damage from a previous incursion."

"Yeah yeah what ever. Go enjoy your party. I'll be here doing actual work. Your work. Someone needs too after all."

Rolling her eyes she turned towards the stairs when she stopped. "Although that reminds me I haven't written up the last report from yesterday when we encountered that nasty little Futarian Blat Beast in the Andes that was eating campers. I should probably get working on that."

Locke jumped out of his chair, "NO! I mean, no. From now on I'll do all mission reports. That way I know they're being written up properly."

If he hadn't been looking he would never have noticed the quick cheshire cat grin that had appeared on her face. He paled, "Wait-"

"Arty there you are! We're about to pop open s'more bubbly and make a toast. Hurry, hurry."

Arty seeing her escape quickly rushed out of the room after there Tech Expert Alanso. Locke fell back into his chair and scratched his head, "she planned all of that so she could get out of doing paper work. Quinn was right she's an evil genius."

With a heavy sigh he turned once more to the task at hand, diving back into his labors.

* * *

_But here's the thing about Torchwood Four...it has no intention of ever returning. By the end of Jan. 1st Torchwood four would be forever changed. A TARDIS spiraling out of control in the time vortex would eventually crash land and, as a way of healing itself, the remnants of the broken machine would end up integrating into the structure of the facility. It's occupants from then on would fill in the void left from that days events. _

_These events proceeded as follows: _

_**12:58 am Jan 1st exactly 14 minutes after the first transmission:**_

_ Quinn Desmond makes his usual rounds, after the team leader orders everyone to continue as normal, when he notices a few of the holding cells are empty. He calls up to the hub for confirmation of any transfers in cells 641, 654, 657,712, and 908. He receives a negative. He looks down in one of the cells and then asks for Tom Goode. He doesn't specify why, just that Tom should bring his kit._

_**1:03 am:**_

_Quinn has Tom look into the cells. He sees nothing till Quinn tells him to look underneath the beds. He finds the skeletal remains of cell occupant 641, a weevil. He then checks the other four to confirm, he calls Kathy Temple down and makes the rest of the team aware of the situation. Cell 908 is the only one just empty. Alicia searches the records to find out its occupant was a Judoon that had fallen through the rift. She puts everyone on high alert and goes searching for it._

_**1:08 am:**_

_Kathy and Tom collect the remains and transport them to the morgue for further examination under the orders of Alicia._

_**1:24 am:**_

_Lizbin Franco and Brue Smith are re-scanning the building for the fourth time when there's a power surge. The power flickers on and off before it returns to normal status. Alicia asks for Lizbin to check out engineering. She has Bo Desmond bring down the necessary equipment. Brue continues scanning._

_**1:32 am:**_

_Tom finishes his autopsy. He concludes the bodies were stripped of all flesh. Kathy leaves to search their database for any alien that matches the m.o. Tom updates Alicia. Lizbin and Bo start checking engineering._

_**1:36 am:**_

_Lizbin notices a few cut wires indicating sabotage. She reports it to Alicia. They suspect it's the loose Judoon. Alicia makes her way over to that location as Lizbin works on fixing the problem. Bo stands watch._

_**1:40 am:**_

_ Kathy having found nothing on record looks over the cctv in the cells to find out how the aliens died. Brue reports having found nothing on the scans again. He re-groups with Tom._

_**1:51 am:**_

_Kathy radios over the intercom for everyone to re-convene in the hub. She's found something that everyone has to look at immediately._

_**2:02 am:**_

_The team watches the cctv footage of cell 908. The Judoon in his deactivated helmeted space suit thrashes about screaming before it stops. The door to it's cell opens. It walks in front of all the other cells they found empty. One minute after it walks off screen the other aliens after a second or two of screaming are instantaneously reduced to bones._

_**2:09 am:**_

_After everyone has calmed down a distraught Kathy quietly exits the room to find a drink._

_**2:11 am:**_

_A loud scream is heard from the staff kitchen. The entire crew, except for Bo and Lizbin, rush to her aid._

_**2:12 am:**_

_Upon entering the kitchenette a pile of bones are discovered on the floor. It's confirmed to be Kathy Temple._

_**2:15 am: **_

_After careful examination of the body and surrounding area the team leader orders Lizbin and Quinn to look over all footage to see what they can find. The others go hunting for the Judoon. Lethal force is authorized._

_**2:31 am:**_

_When asked to report Tom doesn't respond. It is later discovered that he's been de-fleshed like the others._

_**2:42 am: **_

_Lizbin rushes out of the room to grab something from her lab after she see's something on the cctv._

_**2:47 am:**_

_Lizbin doesn't report back. Alicia goes to investigate._

_**2:54 am:**_

_Alarms go off. Temporal energy spikes in the vicinity of labs 12-13._

_**2:59 am:**_

_Alicia witnesses an old carnival ticket booth materialize in the middle of lab thirteen._

_**3:01 am:**_

_Two figures step out as the front pops open and smoke fills the room. The pilots, a brother and sister duo, were taking their maiden voyage after repairing vital systems that had been damaged. An explosion in temporal energy within the vortex, the result of an aborted timeline, caused their type 78 TARDIS to take on heavy damage resulting in an emergency landing. Alicia orders Quinn to turn on the ventilation in the room._

_**3:02 am:**_

_The two figures are ordered to put there hands in the air. They comply. They're handcuffed and taken to interrogation room 3 for questioning. She reports the intruders to the rest of the team._

_**3:15 am:**_

_While interrogating the two intruders Alicia is interrupted by Brue who then tells her that they found another body and it looks to be Tom. They rush out of the room leaving their captives unattended._

_**3:17 am:**_

_The captives known as Arty P. Patterson and her brother Oz P. Patterson use the sisters Holo computer, integrated into her arm, to break out. They proceed to run towards lab 13 when they bump into the loose Judoon. They try and talk to it but it starts walking roboticly towards them. After a couple attempts at communication they realize something is wrong with its communicator. So Arty zaps it with her Holo but accidently pops open the helmet revealing a Judoon skull. Letting out a few choice curse words they race away from the area, Judoon slowly following._

_**3:19 am:**_

_Alicia confirms Toms to be deceased. She asks Bo to look for Lizbin since she's not responding fearing the worst. She makes her way back to the interrogation room._

_**3:23 am:**_

_ The Pattersons while running through the halls pass the coms room. A few seconds later Arty runs in over to the screen Lizbin had been looking at. Quinn alerts everyone of the escaped captives. Arty plays the video back as Quinn tries to stop her._

_ She pauses it on Kathy's skeleton as it falls to the floor. She notices one of the shadows rush away from the bones to the shadow on the wall._

_**3:24 am:**_

_Alicia rushes into the room guns raised. Arty starts typing away furiously pulling up all sort of windows. Alicia demands she step away from the computer. Arty tells her that they might all die if she does. Alicia raises her arm and Oz quickly disarms her. _

_**3:25 am:**_

_Arty finishes a life scan of the facility to reveal one million life signs. She asks Alicia how many living beings are in the facility including crew. Quinn informs her that there are 567. She shows them the scan and tells them that everyone has to evacuate the facility now. Quinn tells her its impossible because there on lockdown. Alicia wants to know what she knows so Arty tells her that they're facing a thing know as the, Vashta Nerada, flesh eating shadows._

_**3:30 am:**_

_After Arty and Oz fail to lift the quarantine they suggest that they all hide in their TARDIS as it would be a safe refuge till they can come up with a plan. But before they go Arty wants to calibrate her Holo so they can tell what shadows to avoid. The lights start to flicker again and turn off before the axillary kicks in a second after. Now there are more shadows. As Arty calibrates her computer Oz starts looking for the best root to lab 13 on the cctv screens and starts directing those still somewhere in the facility towards that room. Alicia authorizes their assistance._

_**3:43 am:**_

_Arty finishes her calibration as Bo finds Lizbin's remains only to become the next victim. Alicia fed up with losing more of her team sends out the last distress call. During which a scan reveals her to already be infected._

_**3:44 am: **_

_The infected Judoon blocks the entrance way, the only exit. Alicia realizing she's already dead rushes forward knocking the Judoon out into the hall giving the others an escape. The Vashta Nerada devour her the moment they exit the coms room._

_**3:59 am:**_

_They meet up with Brue on the other end of level three. _

_**4:05 am:**_

_The group makes it to the labs when they realize they're losing auxiliary and will soon be in darkness. They make a run for lab 13._

_**4:07** **am:**_

_They enter lab 13 only to find that there TARDIS in shambles. The console room is the only thing left as the outer-shell appears to be blown around the lab. The TARDIS seems dead. The facilities power is failing rapidly as the shadows grow near._

_**4:08 am:**_

_A light on the console blinks showing that it's still alive. Arty and Oz get to work as they see it's rebuilding itself. Quinn and Brue rush over to them. A panel on the console pops open. The light from the heart of the TARDIS engulfs the room as the ground shakes. Everyone blacks out._

_**Fifteen minutes later, date unknown:**_

_The crew awaken to see that the interior of Torchwood four is now meshed together with the TARDIS becoming apart of it. Arty informs them that they are safely traveling in the time vortex. The Vashta Nerada destroyed by the TARDIS its self. As Torchwood four is now apart of it Arty and Oz take command. Brue and Quinn being from Torchwood can't let them do that as the base is needed to protect earth. A compromise is made, seeing as the two Timelords already meddle in earth affairs by helping them, they let the lasting Torchwood team remain active but the Timelords are the only ones allowed near the TARDIS console room and anyone that tries to study it gets thrown out. They also don't answer to Torchwood nor does it control the time machine. The agreement is only until the TARDIS can be safely extracted from Torchwood four. Everyone agrees. Brue and Quinn appoint Arty as team leader and Oz as second in command as a goodwill gesture._

* * *

Locke stared at the screen. He paused in thought. Was that last entry to informal? As his finger hovered over the delete key an alarm blare over the com system. He let out a smug laugh, "Knew it."

Heaving himself out of his office chair he rushed down the stairs and out into the hallway. He almost smiled when Arty's voice rang in his ear piece. "Locke I better not hear an I told you so when you get down to the hub! There are more important things to do...like stop the alien invasion that's ruining our party. Stupid party crashers. Besides I'm the only one allowed to gloat!"

"Is that an order ma'am?"

"You bet your sweet ass it is!"

Locke's mouth twitched. That's the real thing about Torchwood four, never a dull moment. And if he were honest with himself he wouldn't have it any other way. Not that he'd ever tell his faithfully insane leader that. He smiled into his earpiece, "Ma'am fraternizing in the work place is highly inappropriate."

Yep just another day at the office.

* * *

_Please rate and review ^_^_

_ps. would you all prefer shorter chapters like this that I'd post two or three times a week or would you like long ones that I post once a week._


	2. The ground floor up part 1

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood if I did I would have the adventures of torchwood 4 as a spinoff ^_^.

I'll also try and use correct terminology for the certain characters and I'm sorry if I don't use things right just tell me and i'll fix it.

* * *

Flashes of light. Incessant ringing. The world blurs and bleeds. Earth spinning out of control, at 67,000 miles per hour around the sun, is home to 7,038,963,341 humans. 156,000 will die today. Another 384,000 will be born to take their place. A constant struggle between life and death that will never end. One we all must loose someday. After all time isn't infinite. Tick tock goes the clock as they say. Tick, tick, tick, TICK!

Speaking of which, Arty glared at the one across the room that was having trouble getting past the three. Interesting.

A buzzing in her ear turned her attentions else where. With the slightest amount of movement she turned on the micro head set in her ear. Taking a quick glance around she made sure no one outside was looking in the managers office. "What do you have for me Al."

"Besides a grilled cheese and pickle sandwich, it would appear our friends at Dover Incorporated have been a little naughty."

Arty crossed her legs and folded her hands together, "A GCP sandwich you say. That sounds good right about now. Maybe with some good old Mexican coke. Not the drug, the drink. They're in these slim glass bottles and they're made with real sugar. Not that artificial crap, which in the future is-"

"Boss?"

"Sorry got distracted. You were saying?"

"It would appear they're embezzling funds from their investors."

"Is that it? That's nothing new. Big corporations do that type of stuff all the time, granted it's awful and we should probably send a suggestion of inquiry to the SFO after all this is over, but is there anything else. Anything at all?"

"No, sorry. I don't exactly understand what you're looking for. I mean it's just some boring insurance company, nothing alien about it. That is if you don't count the office trust building retreats."

"Is my Newspaper still on the couch?"

"Yes. But I still don't see-"

"Turn it to page six and read it out loud."

"Alright. Lets see here. Ok, umm they're opening a McDonalds on Main St."

"Not that one, keep reading."

"Some one's been destroying peoples garden gnomes?"

"Nope try again."

"Death is ruled to be of natural causes?"

"Yep that's the one!"

"A natural death? What's that have to do with Dover?"

Arty uncrossed her legs shifting in her chair as a couple of employees passed the large glass windows. She waited till they disappeared from view behind the wall, "It wouldn't if the person hadn't been found in a cubicle in this building the next morning."

"Again I don't see why that warrants us to investigate it-"

"Yes. Well, if the person who died was in there seventies it might not be such a big deal. But the woman who died was twenty six. And she's not the only one. Two others died the same way within the last two months. As well as seven people who have since gone missing from that building within the last six months. Everyone of them was relatively young and healthy."

Alonzo paused, "Wait, then why does the paper only mention one. I would think all of that would be front page news. That many people dying and going missing in one place. Extremely suspicious."

"Well, it would be if the others had any family of friends to miss them. But Jane Tremont was the only one, she had a half sister who went on expedition in South America that she'd never mentioned, who came back recently. And the coroner, surprise surprise, happens to be employed by a subsidiary of Dover incorporated."

"So it's a big cover up?"

"Pretty much, but the question is what exactly are they covering up."

"Wait! So if you knew all of that then why did you have me run a search?"

"To see if you could come up with anything else. Which you did. But I won't know if it has anything to do with what we're investigating till I have more information. So on that note I need you to send Jo and Spencer to the morgue to retrieve the bodies. I need Jo to do an autopsy once you get them back to base. Also have Quinn on standby for any technical support."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Run some background checks on all employees that have to do with this company. I want you to really dig into their histories. Anything weird no matter how insignificant could be helpful."

"That may take me awhile. Should I grab Oz or Locke, it might help speed up the process if I had an extra set of hands."

"They're not available right now. Oz is off looking for some arnisuim couplings and won't be back for a while."

"And Locke?"

Arty leaned back in her chair and smiled evilly. "Oh don't worry about him. I've already got something for him to do. Just worry about your job."

Alonzo sighed, "For some reason I feel like your grinning like a maniac right now," a small beep went off, "It looks like Mr. Nemo just printed out your background check and your resume. He should be headed back to his office so if you're snooping I suggest you get back to your seat."

"Don't worry. I was gonna look through his office later when most people have gone home for the day. I'm too exposed right now, one of the walls is just a big glass window. Which reminds me, once Spencer is back from the morgue have him wire into the cctv for the building. I want him watching for suspicious activity. Though I'm pretty sure if anything is gonna happen it'll happen once night falls. Call if anyone finds anything. If I don't respond don't worry. It just means I'm not in the position to reply so don't stop talking if I don't say anything. Now if you'll excuse me I can see Mr. Nemo heading this way."

"Talk to you later boss."

Arty readjusted herself and sat up straight as Mr. Nemo opened the door. For a guy stuck in middle management who's going bald with a short chunky stature in his late fifties he sure was happy. Like weird happy. Arty eyed him. He smiled a little to enthusiastically. She put him on the top of her mental suspect list.

"Alright! Ms. Carter it looks like everything checks out. HQ over in America speaks very highly of you. I hope you've been enjoying your stay in the UK so far after all it must be a little difficult with the differences in vocabulary."

"Oh yes, everyones been polite thus far. I've actually spent some time here before so I'm used to the differences."

"Wonderful! Then if you'd like I can have someone give you a tour of the building before we get you set up in an office or you can jump straight into work if you like."

Arty smiles and with a jolt of energy bounces out of her chair. She claps her hands together, "A tour would be lovely."

Mr. Nemo smiles back, again a little to enthusiastically, and pushes a button on his office phone. "Charity, can you get Mr. Mulligan to give Ms. Carter a tour of the building. She's our new consultant from HQ and will be with us for a few weeks. Then can you have someone set her up in Bills old office. Thank you."

"Right away Mr. Nemo."

He looks over to Arty, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to the other employees as to why you're here. They don't know about the cut backs and I fear if they hear about it productivity will drop. They'll be too worried about being on the chopping block to do there jobs properly. So if you could just be discrete."

She nodded her head and gave him the ok sign, "Of course I understand. If you wouldn't mind sending the budget reports, the quarterly reviews, income statements, all other company materials you can think of, and the companies handbook of rules and regulations to my temporary office. After I've read through them I'd like to schedule a meeting with all the department heads before the end of the work day. I'd also like to sit in on a couple of calls between a customer and employee, as well as shadow a few of them. If everything goes according to plan you and your underlings won't even notice I'm here."

Mr. Nemo grinned and extended his hand which Arty shook. "That sounds reasonable. Glad to have you on board Ms. Carter. I shall be seeing you later then."

"Till later," she retracted her hand from his lingering grip. Yeah there's something a little off about him. Giving the man one last smile she exited the room. The door closed behind her with a quite click. She made a quick scan of the room downloading all possible information that might have some relevance for later. The noises of the hustle and bustle faded around her as time seem to come to a slowed pace. The floor as large as it was was packed with tiny little cubicles. In effect causing the room to appear claustrophobic.

Each one was packed with as much stuff as possible. They were all like little cube shaped time capsules. Each one telling the story and life of its occupant. Each one a little bit different. Some had photo's of family and kids, others had pictures of pets, while a few had small posters with encouraging sayings, a couple had spunky little troll dolls decorating any available space, but there was one in the colorful sea of workspaces that stood out.

This one invoked a feeling of sadness when Arty's gaze rested upon it. There were no personal decorations or photos. It barely gave the indication of being lived in. The only things in it were the sparse furnishing each cubicle was mandatorily provided. It almost appeared like no one used it at all, but the indents on the carpet said that someone used to be there. Her eye's flicked to the little metal plaque on its wall. Ah, just as she thought. Jane Tremont.

The world returned to normal as the ringing of phones and robotic conversations blared. Only a second had truly passed but that was all Arty needed to gather all the information from this room. The next victim would most likely come from in here. After all one of the three things they all had in common was they worked on the seventh floor.

She turned to the small hour glass shaped lady at the glass desk. The woman twirled a piece of her dyed blonde hair between two fingers. She turned her view upward at Arty's presence plastering a fake smile, "Mr. Mulligan should be er' in a mo. I just paged 'im."

"Thank you Charity."

She didn't bother to give a reply. Instead Charity turned back to her computer pretending to be busy to avoid conversation. Not that Arty really noticed, social cues were never her thing. Pursing her lips she began to formulate a plan of action when she noticed a tall lanky man out of the corner of her eye walking over. His washed out jeans had the faded stains of toner. His superman t-shirt was unkempt and faded with years of use. Probably one of his favorites. A mustard stain on the corner of his collar told Arty he had just come from a late lunch which he tried to hide with his ruffled brown suit jacket. His dark brown hair was just as frazzled as his clothing, like it wasn't sure if it wanted to be curly or straight. But what really called to her was his face.

He was young, probably about twenty-seven, and yet not a single laugh line. Instead he had dark circles from stress and lack of sleep. His green eye's pained with a deep seated loneliness that only came with a life deviod of friends or family. He would most likely become the next victim. She was gonna have to stick to him like a werstler on a funar. So pretty much like glue. He wasn't about too become another statistic.

Arty gave him her best dazzling smile when he came to a halt in front of her. The man squirmed under her attention but outstretched his hand towards her anyways, "Hi, I'm Ethan Mulligan. Nice to meet you."

She grabbed his hand with both of hers and vigorously shook his up and down, "Hello Ethan! Pleasure to meet you! I'm Jane Carter from HQ. But you can just call me Jane. Though some people call me J, I don't know why they felt the need to shorten it. My names only four letters long but I digress. I look forward to working closely with you. I've heard great things about this place. Well, actually I haven't. Well more like I haven't heard anything about this place. But that's why I'm here! So shall we get this tour started then!"

Arty quickly linked arms with him dragging the befuddled man along. Arty had to admit she rather enjoyed confusing men. Which was a good thing too because she confused almost everyone who wasn't her brother. The curse of having a higher intellect.

Walking along he pointed out little things about the floor, like where the bathrooms were, the break room, the vending machines, who's office was who's and what take out places delivered and which ones were close by, until they reached the elevators.

"And these are the lifts. Though you probably know that already," he looked unsure of himself as he push the up button. The door opened with a ping. He walked in and she trailed behind him slightly amused. He pointed to each button, "Ummm, the 26th floor is the CEO's office, 25th are the department heads, 15th is personnel, and the 4th floor is tech support. The rest are just like this floor. Oh, and B1 is the mail room."

Arty nodded her head. She pushed the close door button shutting them in, "Ethan you seem like you've got it all together and stuff. Probably know all the in's and outs of the place. You've worked here awhile then?"

He hesitantly nodded his head, "Yeah. Three years this summer. Why?"

"So then have you noticed anything strange or weird happening in the office in say...the past six months?"

His head shot up at that, "Oh god."

"So you have noticed something then?"

"Oh my you-"

"Yes?"

"You're-"

"Go on."

"You're a hatchet man!"

Arty quirked an eyebrow, "I'm a what?"

"Oh god, I should have known. All the 'transfers', the managers giving us looks, Mr. Malum visiting the floor and asking us questions! I knew it! You're here to trim the fat! Oh god, please don't sack me. I mean, I hate this job but its all I have! No friends, no family, not even a bloody cat! I don't know how to do anything else! Pleas-"

A loud smack rang out. Ethan grabbed his cheek in surprise. He tried to formulate a sentence but his mouth just went with the motion, nothing coming out. Arty smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. Had to get you to shut your trap. You were starting to get hysterical. Don't worry I'm not gonna fire you," she pulled out a psychic badge, a close cousin to psychic paper, "My real name is Alexa Bond from INTERPOL and I'm currently working with the SFO to investigate the head honcho's. I'm gonna need you to keep quite and answer my questions. Do you think you can do that?"

He just nodded his head even more surprised. "Good. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen if you tell anyone why I'm really here, do I?"

He shook his head. She clapped her hands together and smiled, "Great! Then how about we reconvene this conversation somewhere a little more private. Say one of those little restaurants you mentioned earlier."

Ethan nodded his head in acknowledgement, his energy level skyrocketing. He was filled with a mixed sense of fear, nerves, and something he hadn't felt since he was five years old. Excitement. She press ground floor on the panel and gave him a quirky grin. In that instance he knew he could trust her. As strange as it, was he just knew that he could. And then in that moment he did something he hadn't done in what felt like years. He smiled a genuine smile. Things were looking better for Ethan Mulligan.

* * *

**-X-**

Things weren't looking great for Lincoln Locke. Things were looking more like shit. Literally.

He grumbled to himself. Thinking of all sorts of ways he was gonna get his team leader back once all of this was over. Oh yes, she would pay dearly. If there was one thing Locke wasn't it was a Janitor.

Begrudgingly he pushed the cart full of cleaning supplies out of the rest room and towards the elevators. Arty did this on purpose just to see if she could get a rise out of him. Well he refused to give her the satisfaction. No matter how much he abhorred the ugly blue jumpsuit he was forced into wearing.

A ping down the hallway told him that the lift had stopped on his floor. He quickly sped up to reach it. He called out, "Hold the lift please!"

He turned the corner and almost choked when he saw who was in it. Arty looked up at him and then the panel. She continued this back and forth movement before she started pressing the buttons. Dammit!

He raced towards the closing doors. "I'm sorry sir, but the maintenance elevators are around the corner," She grinned as the door shut in his face. "You open up this door right now you barmy nutter or I swear to god!"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you sir. You'll have to catch the next one," her voice faded as the elevator descended. Oh, he was definitely gonna get her back. It might take him a while but he would get her back for this.

With an aggravated sigh he pushed the call button. He knew when he saw her reading the newspaper this morning that it wasn't going to end well for him. Call it his gut instinct or years of experience, but he knew. Of course had it been anyone else to ask him to do this he would have politely told them to piss off. It didn't matter if they ranked above him or not. Which led him to believe he either had a hard time telling that woman no or it was some weird Time lord pheromone that made him say yes. He was going with the pheromone theory.

He almost jumped out of his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder. "Mr. Greenwood."

"Ye-yes," his voice cracked then recovered, "Yes."

The man behind him was in his late eighties. His face shown with the horrors of surviving two wars, his lack of hair caused by raising six kids, fourteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, his hands were calloused from years of over working at three jobs. He was a soft spoken man and yet he scared the crap out of him. It was the way he was raised after all. To respect the elderly while fearing them just a tiny bit.

The older gent cleared his throat and lifted something up, "You dropped your bottle of window cleaner."

Locke gently grabbed it from him, "Thank you sir."

The door pinged open as he quietly got in. The older man just stared as if piercing his very soul. It was quite unnerving. "Remember floor eight is off limits."

The door slid shut. Now that sounded like it might be a good place to check out. Unfortunately protocol stated that he had to alert his team leader, await instructions and back up. If he were anyone else on the team he'd say screw it and pay the floor a visit himself but protocols are there for a reason. Even if he was practically the only one who heeded them.

He reached for his micro earpiece, "Ma'am?"

He waited for a response but received none. "I suppose you're in unwanted company then. I'll just tell you what I've learned and await for further instructions on how to proceed. Alright so I chatted with a few others in day shift, turns out every couple of weeks a new rotation of night shift janitors are brought in from an outside company. You never see the same guy twice. Which is a little weird. Also apparently floor eight is off limits."

He huffed in frustration as the elevator appeared to be taking it's time. "And don't think I haven't forgotten about earlier. I will get you for that."

The hand held radio went off on his cleaning cart stopping him from making any promises for retaliation. "Hey, Greenwood we need you on four. The men's toilets clogged again."

"I'm on it."

He set the device down and glowered at the door. Yeah, Locke's life was definitely looking like shit.

* * *

**-X-**

Alonzo brushed away a few left over crumbs from his keyboard sipping down some more cola. Why the only beverage stocked in the kitchens were coke he had no idea. It was something he was going to have to have a chat with Arty. It'd be nice to have some tea every now and again.

He scowled at the twenty computer screens before him when most of his programs came up with squat. He hated it when bad guys got smart. It meant he had to actually do some work instead of playing around with all the cool toys Torchwood had to offer. Like a pair of atomic denomilizing buffer chips they'd nicked from a Cybermen base Arty and Oz blew sky high last week. Oh, the benefits of time traveling geniuses. They always came home with cool stuff!

Speaking of which he should probably call Arty to let her know Spencer and Jo just got the bodies into the medical examination room. But then again it'd probably just be better to call her when someone had something. There was no point otherwise.

He drummed his fingers along the table scanning the tech cluttered room. Well since he didn't have much going on here he might as well go and check Jo's progress. Besides he'd receive an update on his tablet when his programs found something. Which they would because he just widened their parameters. He even threw in a couple worms incase they ran into any counter hacks, though it was quite unlikely. Knock on wood.

Grabbing his stuff he skipped over cords and cables into the corridor. The walls were a polished bronzed circling till they reached the floor. Long flowing red drapes hung haphazardly from the ceiling yet somehow appeared beautifully arranged. The glass floor had an intricate oriental rug showing underneath, the reasoning as to why it was under the glass was still a mystery. When Alonzo had first joined the team he had asked why a time traveling spaceship look like the Arabian Nights had been fused with early 90's steampunk. After all he'd been expecting something more star trekie. To which Oz had replied, 'It was the only desktop theme we could both agree on.' Funny thing was he still had no idea what that meant but never questioned it.

His leather boots echoed down the corridor when he took another left turn. His enigmatic leaders. Now there was a mystery no one would fully understand. The select few of the team who were aware of their species still had no real clue about there culture or history. Which was strange because for two people who talked all the time they never really said anything about themselves. Ever.

When he turned right he could hear a slightly aggravated Irish lilt followed by a rude Australian laugh. Alonzo scowled and rolled his eyes. He could barley hear them but he knew they were arguing. Oz was right when he said they should just 'do it' and get it over with. Those two were getting to the point were their sexual tension was streamlining into just plain tension.

He approached the metal bars to lean over and watch them banter. Jo pushed a long metal rod into the chest of the corpse on the examining table, "Listen, could you just watch the damned screen and tell me what readings appear while I try to do my job. I don't need any more lip from you!"

Spencer leaned his shoulder on the hanging computer screen and rolled his eyes. He tried to blow some dirty blonde hair out of his eyes, "No! Not until we talk about what happened. You've been purposely starting a blue with me just to avoid it! And I'm sick and tired of it Josephine! I need an answer!"

"Oh, don't you dare go calling me Josephine like I'm the bad guy here. I gave you an answer It's not my fault that-," she jiggled the metal rod staring at the reader on the end, "now that's...odd."

Spencer pushed himself off the screen advancing to the table, "Now don't you go changing the subject. You never gave an answer, you gave an excuse. So we were both as full as a goog! That doesn't matter. What happened between us was beautiful and you're just avoiding it b-," Jo cut him of with a heated glare, "Drop it ok. Right now lets focus on our jobs. Arty asked me to do an autopsy and she wanted you to watch her back with the cctv feeds of the Dover building. Maybe in stead of arguing with me you should go and make sure she doesn't end up dead. After all she definitely has suicidal tendencies if her crazy arse stunts are anything to go by. So if you don't mind I have a few tests to run."

He looked like he might argue further but shook his head sadly. "Fine. But Jo I won't be waiting around for ever. If you don't come to terms with your feelings you might wake up one day and wonder what if. And you'll only have yourself to blame."

He turned around as she tried to stop him when they both noticed Alonzo leaning on the railings above them. Jo paled, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know you both shagged each other at the last office blow out and that Jo's afraid of commitment and Spencer's a girl. So not long," Alonzo smiled into his hand. Spencer stalked up the stairs towards him menacingly. Alonzo grinned sheepishly backing out of the room slowly, "Oh dear, do you hear that? Sounds like my programming caught a lead. I should go and check on that. How about you guys send me all the info you got later so I can give it to Arty-AH!"

Spencer started chasing after him leaving a sighing Jo behind. Swaying her head she turned back to the body, "Now lets see what's wrong with you?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Meaning to some wording

Blue=fight

as full as a goog=drunk

Ps. I'm not sure if I should keep writing this story so if you want me to continue then please review T_T


	3. The ground floor up part 2

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood if I did I would have the adventures of torchwood 4 as a spinoff ^_^.

I'll also try and use correct terminology for the certain characters and I'm sorry if I don't use things right just tell me and i'll fix it.

Ps. review let authors know if people are reading so please T_T it doesn't even have to be coherent

* * *

Ethan stared at his work from across the street lost in thought leaning his hand upon the window counter. Arty grabbed a coffee from the cafe counter and walked over, sitting on the stool next to him. She placed the cup in front of him. He looked like he needed it like she needed answers.

He peered up, "Thanks, but I don't really drink coffee."

"That's ok. It's not coffee its a benti latte. Besides caffeine helps the synaptic nerves work faster, makes it easier for you to answer any questions I ask. So drink up. Big sips now."

Arty watch with amused interest as he took a tentative sip before his face scrunched up. She couldn't help but smile a bit when he took another one despite his clear dislike for it. Well at least he listened to her. That should help keep him alive then.

"So Ethan now that we've put some kick into your noggin' I'll get right into it. How well do you know your co-workers."

He gently twirled his coffee in between his hands, "I don't personally know them, but I notice things and as well as hear them."

"Don't worry that should do. How many would you say have family and friends?"

"On my floor? Or the building?"

"If you know the answer too both that'd be great but I mostly need to know the answer for your floor."

"On my floor I'd say all of them. Why? I don't understand how that'll help."

"Don't worry you don't need to, just that it will. Do you ever stay late at work. After everyones gone for the day?"

Ethan fidgeted in his chair not sure where her line of questioning was going, "Yeah. I don't really have anything to go home to."

Arty sympathized. She herself knew what it was like to feel alone in the world, but fortunately for her she had her younger brother to lean on. Yet here was a man doing it all on his own and he still found the strength to get up in the morning. Humans truly are amazing. Maybe that's why she liked them so much.

"Is it just you or does anyone else stay behind as well," she asked.

"There used to be others but they all transferred. Just me now."

People passed by the window as the five o'clock crowd pushed in. Arty watched as a couple immediately sat down in a booth near by. They sat on the same side, not uttering a single word. Something was definitely off about them. Keeping them in her periphery she turned to Ethan, "How do you know they transfered?"

"Our boss told us," He squeezed his cup, "why?"

"Did he say where they transfered to," Arty asked ignoring his question. He paused slightly confused, "Over the pond at the New York office. But-"

"Did the people who transfer ever say anything about it before they left."

"Well, no but-"

"Then how do you know they transfered?"

Ethan blinked surprised, "I don't, but we're just an insurance company. Not exactly a place filled with nefarious going ons- and why are you smiling at me?"

She grinned leaning back in her chair, "You've pretty much hit the nail on the head but that doesn't matter right now. Has anything strange or new happened at the office in lets say, the past six months?"

"Besides the transfers, nothing-what are you doing?"

Arty hopped away from the counter and plopped herself down in front of the two people in the booth. They looked on boredly, a black device clutched in between there hands. She glanced down at their wrist watches, well she said wrist watches but that's not what they really were. After all the Arcateenian writing scrolled on the bands told a different story. Gotcha.

She smirked leveling them with her best soul piercing stare, "I'm guessing your not here for the coffee, but then again that was kinda glaringly obvious. So how about I give you the rundown of what you did wrong. One, you didn't even glance at the menu when you came in or even look around for that matter. Two, when you sat down, instead of sitting across from each other, you sat next to each other. When two people sit in a booth they don't do that. Three, out of all the places you could have chosen to sit you sat here. In this exact spot, the one with the best vantage point to our seats behind me. And five-wait no, four! Four, I know for a fact that you're both wearing shimmers made from the planet Arcateen five. So I have to ask," she leaned in, "what exactly do the peaceful butterfly people have to do with the Dover building."

The two just stared blankly, not a word between them. She could sense the low level psychic connection between the two. Now that's rude, having a telepathic conversation leaving her out of the loop. A hand was softly placed upon her shoulder trying to tug her away, "Alexa, what are you doing? You can't just-"

"We were looking for someone else."

Ethan's eyes widened, mouth agape. The couple she had been talking to, a portly middle aged man and woman, when they spoke their mouths hadn't moved a millimeter. He stumbled to find a response, "H-ho-h how-w-wha?"

Ah yes, humans still had no idea about the many wonders of the multi-verse. Unfortunately now was not the time for Arty to help the poor guy through it. There would be plenty of time for things like that later. "Then who were you looking for?"

"We thought you where him. You felt like him but now we see that you are different, yet the are not who we are looking for."

Arty's brows furrowed, "What do you mean we're the same yet different. What's this persons name, maybe I know them."

"We sent out a message for help out into the vortex hoping it would reach him. We have failed."

"Oh! So that was you," Arty reached into her coat pocket rummaging through it till she found her psychic ID, "sorry, didn't get the message till later. I may not be who you're looking for but I'm told I'm very good at solving problems. They call me the fixer...ok they don't. I saw that last bit in a movie once, thought I'd try it out. Now I'm regretting it. Any who, how may I be of service."

They didn't respond. A debate of sorts going on between the two if the spike in psychic energy was anything to go by. She sighed, "Come on, you need help or you would've already taken care of whatever is going on in that building. So you might as well talk."

They share a look before one of them nodded, "We were here to capture some war criminals and transport them home for tribunal but we ran into a complication."

"What kind of complication?"

"They've erected a plasma barrier charged to kill anything with our bio fequency so we can not gain entrance to the facility. If you could turn it off we can take it from there. Rest assured any crimes they have committed while here will be added to their charges when they are brought to justice."

"How many are we talking about," Arty asked keeping an eye on her confused compatriot. Didn't need him running off right now. "Four."

Arty raised an eyebrow, "And there are only two of you? How does that work, two per officer?"

"We have a ship in orbit ready for transport but...your planet's sensors will be able to pick us up once the solar activities above have stopped. Then we will be forced to leave, with or without the criminals."

"Ah, I see so the message was a last ditch effort then to capture them before you had to leave. How long before you have to jump ship then."

"A half an hour."

"Oh. Little bit of a time crunch but that's never stopped me before," she jumped up and clapped her hands together, "wrangle up your guys and have them on the ready. I'll have that barrier down in a jiffy. Alright Ethan, now it's time for us to make like a chicken and cross the road. Oh, that didn't sound as cool as it did in my head. Scratch that. Tally-ho! Uh, sorry to american to pull that off, never mind. Lets just go," Arty grabbed his hand and began to drag him out the door. A customer walked over to the pick up counter and looked upset, "Hey! Where's my benti latte. I ordered it five minutes ago!"

Arty whistled innocently as Ethan's eyes bugged out at the realization that she hadn't payed for that latte she'd given him. A latte that wasn't even hers. He looked back at the commotion just in time to see the two Arcateenians suddenly vanish into thin air. No one around seemed to notice either.

Arty scurried over to the cross walk and pressed the call button. She leaned against the pole for a second before she decided that waiting was too long and made a dash for the island. She weaved in and out of the light traffic. Unfortunately she had to wait on the island as the green light bade the mob of cars through. She tapped her foot impatiently waiting for the walk signal.

Ethan followed suit trying to catch up almost getting hit in the process, the driver honked at him cursing repetitively. He waved exasperatedly apologizing. He felt like his head was going to explode as it spun a mile a minute, this all had to be some sort of wind up or joke. It was all to unbelievable. After all stuff like this never ever happened to him. Even with all the alien spaceship sightings within' the past year. "Ethan breathe."

He looked up and took in a large gulp of air, not realizing till then that he hadn't been. She smirked before turning her attention back to the traffic, she crossed her arms over her chest watching with mild annoyance. If the light doesn't turn red in the next few seconds she'll be taking measures into her own hands.

"You're not really from INTERPOL are you," Ethan asked leaning over to catch his breathe. She glanced back another smirk crossed her features, "What gave it away."

"The crazy talk, but who are you? I mean really. Because none of this makes any sense. What are you really doing here? Is your name even Alexa!"

She turned around and leaned against the pole assessing him. Guess she had a few seconds to spare. She almost smiled at his expression. It was the same one all her friends from Torchwood had when they'd met. Indecision, fear, mixed with excitement, and a dash of child like curiosity. She unfolded her arms and place them in her coat pockets, "Alright I'll shoot. What I'm doing here is investigating the recent deaths and disappearances of your fellow co-workers from floor seven. Which I'd already had my suspicions about, now proven true. And as for my name, well everyone calls me Arty," he opened his mouth to ask another question when she interrupted him, "Yes those people back there were in fact aliens."

He went to speak again but she cut him off, "Not all aliens look like they're from outer space. Some have similar features to humans. Though had there shimmers been off it would have been obvious they're from another planet. They sort of look like a gaseous like energy being in the form of a purpley pink mer-creature. It would be easier if you just saw one rather than explaining it. Unfortunately they've left to get things set and it's not like we could ask them to take it off in public might freak some one out. Probably alerting the authorities and create an intergalactic political snafu. Not something we need right now. Alright where was I...oh yes aliens! Right so now I have to stop the big bad aliens in the big bad corporate building. Why they're killing people I have no idea. But where's the fun in knowing everything."

Poor guy looked frazzled. She could almost hear the gears in his head working overtime to figure out wether what she said was true or not. Trying to find flaws in her logic. Anything to make sense of this. But it ultimately didn't matter wether he believed her or not. It just made things easier if he did. "You're insane," he stated. She smiled smugly, "Of course, but your still here. Listening to me when you could have done a million other things, like run away for instance. So tell me Ethan Mulligan," she walked to him and leaning in real close, "Why are you still here?"

His mouth opened and closed. Why had he followed her? He really hadn't even thought about it, he just did. Which was extremely strange for him. He didn't just follow people, he barely even spoke to them. Of course today was turning into a strange one. She grinned before she lightly flicked the tip of his noes and hopped away, "Red light!"

He grabbed it between his hands and yelled after her, "Ow, why'd you do that! Hey!"

She looked back at him and waved from the other side of the cross walk. Ethan watched wondering if he should follow. The rational side said to go home and call in sick, but that little part of him said if he did he'd forever remain in that cubicle till the day they carted his shriveled up corpse out of it. He bounced from foot to foot trying to make up his mind. Arty turned round to see him still on the island, lost on what to do. Oh, well. Shaking her head at him she jogged her way across the courtyard.

"Wait!"

She paused halfway though opening the front doors. Ethan scrambled across the street just as traffic started moving making his way over to her. She quirked an eyebrow at him when he caught up. You could tell he didn't get much exercise as he labored for breathe. Came with a stationary job she supposed. He took a moment to collect himself. "What can I do to help?"

She smiled, "Knew I could count on you."

Pushing the door open for him he walked into the lobby, "Alright, I'm gonna need to evacuate all the employees from the building. Leaving the aliens the only thing inside. Well and me of course. That way I don't have to worry about any casualties or UNIT showing up. They always make things worse. From there I'll disable the generators for the plasma barrier allowing the ship above to beam them up. Then my job here is done."

"So how do we do all of that?"

She skipped over to the elevator pressing the call button. She turned around and smiled, "I'm going to the eighth. I need you to wait till you see that I've reached it. Then as discretely as you can pull the fire alarm. And assuming my math is correct they haven't installed those blue dye packs that squirt out of them so no one will know you did. They don't make those until another couple of years."

"What about after that? Should I race up the stairwell till I get to the eighth or…"

"After? Oh, after that you should go home, have a nice cup of tea and watch some daytime soaps or whatever it is guys watch. Maybe even think about a career change, but under no circumstances," the doors open and she walks in. She turned to him pressing the button, " Under no circumstances do you go to the eighth floor. And Ethan, it was lovely meeting you."

The doors closed quietly on any protest Ethan may have had. Arty watched as the panel above counted her arrival. Now was a good enough time as any to check in on the team. See if they came up with anything since earlier. She gave her earpiece a tap, " Alpha tengo niner insert some stupid military spiel here, so anybody have any juicy tidbits for me?"

There was a brief crackle and pop before Alonzo answered, "You forgot to say 'over' boss. Ha. But you're are in luck. I-" a female voice interjected, "WE," the man sighed, "fine 'we' found something. It turns out about six months ago there was a change in personnel. Not to big a deal considering corporations do this sort of thing all the time. There were four new hires, Ed Gareth the head of personnel and human resources, Roberto Malum the new CEO, Janice Petrov one of the Board of Directors, and Henry Lawrence the head of IT. But the hinkey thing about it is their histories."

"What about them?"

"Don't worry I'm getting to that. Here's the thing, they have no digital foot prints, no nothing. They don't exist. But that's not the worst part. Dug a little deeper into the company, really dug my claws into them. It's much worse than we thought."

"How much worse," Arty asked a bit worried. "It's more than seven people. It more like thirty two! Apparently they outsource some of their workers, they use-"

"Let me guess a different night shift for their janitors from a separate subsidiary company."

Alonzo sounded surprised, "Yeah but how did you know?"

"Locke phoned in earlier about the janitors, I guessed the rest," she shrugged. She could practically hear him roll his eyes over the com, "Of course. We all had a laugh about him earlier when Spencer forwarded us a screen shot of him wearing his new uniform. I must say that it's christmas card worthy. But anyways other than more missing people and fake identities, Jo found some-well I don't really know what exactly she found so I'll have her tell you."

A loud rustling erupted from the speaker as she clutched her ear in pain. "OW! What was that about?"

"Sorry Arty, right so when I did an autopsy on the body I found nothing. And by nothing I mean no radiation what so ever."

Arty stopped jumping from foot to foot. That's very not good, "Oh, that's bad."

"Ok for all us none geniuses please explain, because last I checked no radiation is good," Alonzo groaned. The elevator reached the sixth floor. Seemed to be taking it's time so Arty leaned against the wall getting comfortable, "No. It's bad to have too much radiation, but to have none at all is impossible. Everything that exists emits some form of radiation. Nothing lethal mind you. But radiation none the less. So it begs the question why doesn't Jane Tremont? Jo did you find anything else out?"

"No sorry, just that she died from extreme exposure...what are you gonna do now?"

She smiled, "Send some war criminals to Acateen 5, oh does any one know where Locke is I think he might be on radio silence. If you can get a hold of him have him rendezvous with me on floor eight. Also Alonzo I'm gonna need you to run interference with 999, there's gonna be a fire alarm and I don't need the authorities messing things up. So if you would."

"Sure thing boss, see you on the flip side."

The floor around her gave a lurch almost knocking her off balance. Doors slid open to reveal a hallway on the mend. Walls torn and broken showing their frames. Plastic sheets clung to a few of them as well as ceiling panels blowing in some none existent wind. A loud alarm blared as red lights began flashing from the fire monitor. Good looks like things are going to plan. Better than going to pot.

Crunch. Arty picked her foot up to see a pair of broken black rimmed glasses. Interesting. "I wonder who you belong to?"

How many people have been up here she wondered. She shook her head, that would have to stay on the back burner for now. It was time to find that generator. Moving her right arm she turned on her holo computer grafted underneath her skin. A bunch of circles that to anyone else would appear nothing more than an intricate design sprang fourth. Sifting through a couple of screens she pressed one of the circled designs for perimeter scans.

She let out a large exasperated puff of air and started tapping out 'I like to move it' by real 2 real while she waited on the results. She willed the scan to hurry but unfortunately that never seemed to work. She didn't have those kind of powers despite her species name. A clank ahead startled her as she spotted a rat scuttling by. She shivered as she watched it disappear from view. Ugh, she did not like rats. Not after she got trapped in a cave full of them when she was five. Little nibbling beady eyed bastards.

The screen pinged and brought up a schematic of the floor zooming in on a larger middle room. A tab appeared of it pulling up readings. "Ah that's more like it!"

Sprinting down the hallways her footsteps echoed down the corridors. She smiled as she skidded around a corner. This is what she loved, the running. Not seeing new things or saving people or even proving nothing is impossible. Though she did enjoy that. Even when she was running through half built corridors she felt free. It was all very liberating. People have no idea how hard it is to have a million different things racing through their brain at the same time. It was probably one of the reasons timelords don't sleep much. Well, one of them. The other being biological.

Skidding around another corner she saw an opening in the wall leading into the room she needed to be in. Jumping through it she noticed two things. Okay maybe three things. Or rather four. One, the room in here, excluding the hole in the wall, was metal with many lab supplies littered with equipment you'd see in a spaceship med bay. Two, it looked to be of Machi origin, not Arcateenian, the sister planet of Arcateen 5. Three, Locke was strapped onto one of the examination boards sitting up against the wall unconscious but breathing. That was good. And four, the place had damage equivalent to a crash landing. Explaining the hole she walked though.

She bit her lip as she tried to figure out wether or not to unhook Locke or turn off the generator. Her eyes darted between the two before they landed on her decision. Generator first it was the more logical thing to do. She walked over to it and roamed it's surface till she found the right button. It looked like a model 247 exogini plasma generator, standard on any Machi star fighter. The only yellow one on the thing looked to be the appropriate off switch. A quick scan would confirm it. Better safe than sorry.

A canister flew across the room. Arty twirled around only to be met with the sight of a metal bar as it collided with her skull. Whack! And all went black.

* * *

**-X-**

_ It was dark. So very dark. And it was cold, but a strange cold. She was alone, No! Not alone, just far away. She could sense the other, a pale green aura moving in the darkness, she new this one. And it knew her. Yet there was something else. A glimmer, a shimmer of sorts of someone else she couldn't see. They were there but they weren't. It felt tired, old and so lonely...yet it also felt so alive! Who? _

_ There was something she was supposed to remember. It was important. Was she supposed to remember the glimmer! No. She didn't know the glimmer. It was something else. Something vital. Something that made things fit. But why did she need things to fit. What was supposed to fit? Did she break something? No, she was missing pieces. But to what? Not a puzzle, but it was like one. It was a problem, but it wasn't hers. It was someone else's. One she was fixing. One she hasn't finished._

_ People were going missing, no! It was worse, they were being killed. Used-used, they were being used for something. She saw something. What did she see, what did she see. There was a pipe. No, not that. Before that. Before the darkness and the pipe, there was a room. She'd entered a room, a medical room. But it wasn't just a medical room. It was being used for something far more sinister. It'd been adapted. Something on the ceiling, something that would heal. Not anymore though. No, now it killed._

_ Life. Life support! The life support for the injured was modified. Into-into-into an...an extrapilator! Light! No, it was getting lighter. The darkness was receding. The thing it extrapilated was vital! Every ship needed it! That's right she was on a ship! She knew! She new what they were doing now!.The thing that every ship needed! It was...it was-it was-!_

"Fuel," Arty jolted upward. Well, she tried to, but found herself restrained to one of the examination tables. Great. Maybe if she moved just right she could turn on the com in her ear. "Looking for this."

She was half way into banging her head onto the metal when she saw her earpiece held in the tentacled hands of a male Machi. Humanoid in stature they had all the required parts to make one, two arms, two legs, and one head. But instead of skin they had the exoskeleton of a crustacean with the color and texture of a purpley rock. Although instead of claws they had hands with tentacled suction cup on them. Bellow their ears were gills, instead of hair on their head it was decorated with a colorful array of fins mimicking a hair style. This ones was a mohawk. That wasn't good. In their culture certain styles meant certain status or occupation. She always thought it weird that they named their planet after their species. But then again it made sense with the whole warrior ego thing they tended to have crammed up their butts. Which by this guys hair told her he was a Lieutenant. Oh, this was gonna suck.

She smiled happily, "Yep, if you would be so kind as to give it to me I'd be most grateful."

Mohawk smiled as he crushed it to bits in his hand. Her head lolled back hitting the table. She sighed, "One of these days that's gonna work."

It grunted in response and moved to lower a large metallic exoskeleton from the ceiling over Locke just as he started to stir. Arty feverishly struggled against the metal bonds, "Wait-wait-wait! Just stop, stop. Just listen to me for one millisecond. Please! Please, just wait!"

Her shouting rang though out the room. A door opened to her left as three people walked through. The important business man in front bellowed, "Halt, Lt. Xii!"

Lt. Xii stopped just a hair breathes away from Locke. He snarled but stepped away stopping twice then thumping his chest. Their form of saluting. The business man nodded as the soldier stood to attention. He walked over with long strides and purpose to the front of her bed. She looked up at him assessing her options. He smiled sadistically, "Please go on. Beg, plead, bargain, if you will. I love it when you apes give a show right before the end. It brightens my day as you all say."

Arty resisted the urge to growl, instead she kept her chipper excited disposition in place. It always threw the baddies for a curve. And she need time to think of a way out of this. "Well if I'm going to be doing those things it would be nice to know the name of my captor."

The man scoffed but answered none the less, "They call me Mr. Malum here, but my true title, my true name, is General Dixtrian of the First Starship Fleet of the glorious Machi Republic!"

"Well, Dick that's quite an impressive title you have there, I mean you must have been very important during the war. But the wars over. You lost. The Arcateenians won, but you already know that. Your running, that's why you ended up here. Let me guess. Ran out of fuel? So you landed on the nearest habitable planet. This one, but there was a problem. Your ship sustained to much damage for a clean entry through the ionosphere. So you crash landed. Ended up here. But no one noticed, not even the authorities. So you probably have a perception filter," she pointed at the man standing next to Dick, "your the IT guy, I'm guessing that means your the ships engineer, so you must have rigged something up, probably converted this thing into an extrapolator to. Because you're stuck in here with the Arcateenians outside waiting for you. You needed fuel and repairs. So you integrated yourselves into the company and used the only assets you had at your disposal, people."

"What!"

Arty turned her head slightly to the left to see Locke straining against his metal bonds. She grinned, "Good morning sleeping beauty. Nice of you to join the conversation."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh bite me."

"Would if I could but I'm kinda stuck. Raincheck?"

Locke went to fire back some comeback but he got interrupted, "Enough!"

Oh that's right, Dick. Looked like someone didn't like being ignored. Dick leaned over her menacingly, "I don't know how you found out about all that, but it's not gonna matter in a few seconds," He motioned to Lt. Xii, "Start the process."

Oh crap! "Wait wait wait wait wait, I haven't even gotten to the best part yet! I mean cause this bit is truly inspired. I mean really, who would have thought anyone could come up with such an ingenious plan!"

Dick motioned for his subordinate to stop. Xii scowled but did as he was told. He didn't look to happy about it either. Did she sense dissent in the ranks. That might be her only way out. Dick crossed his arms and smiled smugly, "Please go on."

She let out a sigh of relief, than god he had an ego. She was about to go on stroking that ego when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A scared man entered quietly through the hole in the ship. He looked up. Ethan. She let out a tiny smirk as a plan began formulating. "Right so, your plan. You needed fuel. And this from the looks of things is a type 62X7 starfighter with a quasar core. Which needs Neutron blocks to fuel. But you can't find those here so you found the next best thing, because what are Neutron blocks rich in. Radiation! And since you're stuck in here you used the only radiation you could find, the natural radiation humans give off," Arty motioned with her hand to the left and kept doing so hoping Ethan would take the hint. He looked around confused. She rolled her eyes, guess she'd have to spell it out. "Quite brilliant. Though it might take awhile but your in it for the long haul. But you know I almost stopped you. I mean if you hadn't interrupted me I would have pressed the only yellow button on the plasma generator. The square one with the red piping in the corner over there. Because if I had pressed that yellow button on that generator with the green symbol on it that sort of resembles a chinese lantern the Arcateenians would have beamed you guys out."

Ethan moved to it pointing silently asking if it was right one, looking for a button. Arty watched trying to keep the Machi's attention, "Yes that one. Over there. Yep that's the one, the one with the yellow button on the front. Yep right there."

Dick rolled his eyes, "Alright enough. Kill her first. I don't want to listen to her incoherent ramblings anymore."

Lt. Xii smiled with sick glee happy to oblige. Arty's eyes widened as he pulled the see-thru exoskeleton down on her. Lights started flickering. The Machi looked up confused. "What's that,"Dick asked. IT guy looked frightened, "The plasma barrier is receding. How?"

Dick spun around. Ethan froze from behind the generator as all the attention was on him. "NOOOOO," Dick screeched. Realizing he had been beat he directed all his rage onto the person who'd tricked him. He flew across the room shutting her into the machine and pulled the lever. The machine roared to life just as the war criminals disappeared in a flash of light. Arty screamed as she felt her body being torn apart from the inside. Her cells burning like ice in her veins. She couldn't think, she could hardly breathe. Any longer and her body wouldn't be able to take much more. She be forced to regenerate and hooked up in this thing she might not make it.

And as suddenly as the machine started it stopped. The cover flew off as someone started unhooking her. She felt like someone was talking but her hearing was muddled. She blinked several times trying to extinguish the blurriness. She was briefly aware of a person trying to take her pulse. She batted the hand away. The pain was succeeding but her head was pounding. It was like a loud alarm was blaring in it. Wait a second, an alarm!

Arty jumped off the table almost falling over, a hand steadied her. The world around her jolted into focus. A Siren was blaring. Locke and Ethan huddled around her worriedly to an empty room. Mauve lights were flashing. She cursed. "We have to get out of the building," Arty screamed over the noise. Locke nodded making his way towards the door. Ethan however seemed confused, "Why, what's going on?"

She started walking dragging him along, "You see if I was human not only would I be dead right now but the systems wouldn't be overloading. But the sort of radiation I give off doesn't mix well others. Quiet frankly it'd kill anything beside me. So right now that radiation is mixing with what they've collected so far and it's becoming volatile. You see when the molecular chains break dow- "

"Ma'am, is this really the time to be giving the kid a science lesson!"

Arty rolled her eyes. Well, if not now then when? They speed around another corner racing towards the stairwell. "You're not human," Ethan choked out. She raised an eyebrow, "I thought that was obvious."

They burst through the doors running and jumping down eight flight of stairs. Ethan kept casting strange glances at Arty. Did she really look human or was she wearing a glimmer to. That's what she called had them right? He shook his head. It didn't matter. She was the good guy. Who cared if she was an alien. She wasn't trying to kill anyone. Plus she was kinda cool.

He smiled as the reached the last floor and raced across the lobby just as a huge explosion rocked the building. The place started shaking as a huge rumbling over took them. Arty was trying to tell him something but it was to loud. She vigorously pulled on his arm dragging him out of the building. "-sing!"

"What!"

"The building is collapsing we need to move now! Run faster!"

Debris flew all around as a large cloud of smoke almost caught up to them. People were running and screaming on the streets as cars were stopping. They raced all the way to window of the cafe across the street when the rumbling stopped.

The building stopped just short of the tenth floor, ruble and ruins packed and scattered all around. Sirens from police cars and fire truck echoed in the distance. Arty turned to Locke coughing, "We need to leave before the authorities get here. Let's head back to the TARDIS."

"Right. I'll call in to let them know. Give you two a minute."

Her face scrunched in confusion. What was he talking about. Oh yeah! She turned to see the poor guy leaning against the window breathing heavily and coughing. He looked up, his face full of questions. She rolled her eyes and smiled motioning with her head to follow her into the alley away from prying ears.

They slowly walked in. She crossed her arms and leaned against the brick building. "So where do you want me to start?"

"You're an alien."

"Yes."

"What kind? Do you really look human or are you wearing a disguise?"

"I'm a timelord. And for the record we came first so you look timelord not the other way around."

"What planet are you from?"

"Doesn't matter it's not there anymore."

"Why what happened?"

"Stuff. Lots and lots of bad stuff."

"Why were those aliens here?"

"To sum it up, they crash landed after escaping from a war. Ended up in this building, took it over and started killing people to repair their ship and siphon radiation to power it and get away. Thus evading justice."

"But why were they at war?"

"Well if memory serves me right, it started over a stupid feud between rival factions on Machi which unfortunately an Arcateenian ambassador commented on. Resulting in the two faction to unite and attack Arcateen 5."

"So do you just go around saving people?"

"Yep."

He paused trying to find something else to ask but found nothing. She smiled, "You ok."

"Yeah."

A familiar worping sound resonated down the alley. The wind began to pick up. They turned to see an old time yellow ticket booth vanish and appear into existence. Locke ran around the corner, "Ma'am they're...oh you already know. Well it looks like your brother got home early and decided to save us the trip back and pick us up here."

Ethan just starred at it slack jawed. His mind was now officially blown. "Locke why don't you go in. I'll be just a sec."

He looked between the two and shrugged opening the front ticket counter that swung open like a door. Ethan peered in just in time to see a large room as the door shut closed.

She clapped her hands together as she launched herself from the wall, "I suppose you want to know what that is."

He just nodded his head since he could find his voice at the moment. "Well that is my spaceship. Although when I say spaceship she not just a spaceship. She's also a time machine and yes she's huge on the inside. Do you believe me?"

"Strangely enough yes. I mean I'd probably believe anything right now but I do. I really really do."

"Well that's a first."

"Can I come? I mean come with you through time and space."

"No."

He looked down sadly, "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be presumptuous. It's just I thought...never mind."

She gave him a soft smile, "I didn't mean no as in never, just no as in not right now. I have to find a safe solution for disentangle my TARDIS from Torchwood 4. But after that my schedule is clear."

He jumped up excitedly, "Really do you mean it?"

"Yes, but only one ride. And I'm sorry but it might take me awhile. Time travel can be touchy sometimes. But I promise you I will come back and take you anywhere and anytime."

He ran over and gave her a giant hug which she awkwardly accepted, "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

She smiled when he quickly stepped back because he realized what he had been doing. He gave an apologetic look. She jumped back and started opening the door, "Well, in the mean time while your waiting I suggest finding a new job maybe something more fulfilling."

"Yeah well who's fault is that," Ethan laughed. Arty held her left heart in mock hurt before quickly burst into a grin. "See ya' round slim."

Ethan watched as the door closed. He began to walk back towards the street when she popped her head back out, "Oh! I almost forgot. If you should find your self in any alien situations just think really loud and make a wish and I'll come running."

"How does that work?"

"It just does. It's all very wibbley wobbly timey wimey."

"What's that from?"

"Some guy I heard on the street once. Didn't see him but it sounded very accurate."

She smiled and pulled her head back in. He watched in amazement as the TARDIS vanished into thin air. The wheezing fading into the distance. A blonde woman bolted past him into the alleyway, "Doctor!"

He gave her a peculiar look. Why would there be a doctor in here? She abruptly turned around, "Did you see him, the Doctor! Did you meet him?"

"No, sorry. Just a woman."

"I could have sworn I heard his TARDIS," she looked down in defeat. He quirked his head to the side, "You know what a TARDIS is?"

Her head shot up at that, "How do you if you said you didn't meet him. You must have seen his police box."

"Well, it wasn't a police box. And the person who owned it was named Arty."

He eyes widened in recognition at the name. "She was here. Well she'll have to do. If you see her again tell her she has to get a message to the Doctor! It's very important. The univers-"

Ethan blinked a couple of time trying to figure out if his eyes were deceiving him. Nope. They were working. The blonde girl he'd been talking to just vanished into thin air. That probably wasn't good. Does this count as alien?

* * *

**NEXT EPISODE: Highway 66**

Preview (not in any order just tidbits):

Arty spotted a van driving down the road. Maybe they could give them a lift to town. She made her way down the foggy hill.

"What if it never ends! What if we all die on this road" Olivia screamed. A slap rang out. Everyone in the car stopped shouting.

"Why don't we try that place up there, looks friendly enough. Well, friendly enough as anything can be in such ominous setting."

"I'm on the highway to hell! I'm on the highway to-," Spencer shut off the stereo. Arty stopped singing along looking up upset, "Hey I was listing to that!"

Every one glared at her, "Do you really think now is the appropriate time for that song?"

"Run everyone run! Don't let them bite you!"

"What ever you do don't go into the fog. If you value your lives don't go into the fog!"

* * *

After the next episode she shall be having adventures with the doctor!

Ps. anyone who reviews gets two awesome points, the first one gets ten. If you collect twenty then i'll write a character in for you. You get to chose what they look like, age and country. they'll be like a secondary character that helps out in the episode or hurts you can make them evil or good. You also get to name them, but it must be appropriate. Oh and if any one can guess why i named the bade guys human persona Mr. Malum get five points.


	4. Authors Note

On hiatus. Don't worry I will be coming back to this story eventually, but I'm trying to work on an original story right now and doing four stories at once is a little daunting. Of course should I get more reviews and/or views I'll be working on my others more. Like I said I'm not abandoning this story because there are so many fun things I want to do with this one but I'm just letting you know it might be a couple of months till I return to it. Sorry.


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